Man Pleads Guilty in $200K ATM Skimming Scheme

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A 30-year-old Romanian man pleaded guilty on Monday to a multi-state ATM skimming scheme that stole more than $200,000 from banks and customers.

Dragos Osanu -- also known as Lucian Dragos Osanu, The Boss, Antonio Venturini, Rosca Alexandru Osanu, Vasile Andrei and Osanu Aragos Lucian, -- worked with others to install skimming devices on ATMs and on card swipe access devices in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, according to court documents.

The ring also placed devices on the ATMs that contained hidden pinhole cameras, positioned in such a way that they could record personal identification numbers that bank customers punched into the ATMs to gain access to their accounts.

With the stolen information, the group created counterfeit bankcards and withdrew funds from the customers’ accounts.

Osanu admitted that, in June and July 2009, he and others placed skimming devices and pinhole cameras at a Wachovia Bank ATM and a PNC Bank ATM in Philadelphia, and stole money from compromised accounts at those banks.

In August 2009, Osanu and others attempted to obtain customer account information through skimming devices on ATMs at a Bank of America located on Third Avenue in New York City.

Osanu admitted that banks lost more than $70,000 as a direct result of his participation in the conspiracy.

He will be sentenced on Feb. 10 and will be ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $46,389.63.

Osanu was arrested on March 2 in Virginia and he and co-defendant Nelut Ady Oana had approximately $26,145 in cash, five re-encoded gift cards containing stolen bank account information, laptop computers, Bluetooth devices and tools, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.